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trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. with chantix and with the support system it worked for me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. hello there, everyone. just about high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." beefing up security. surprise move by the pentagon. shocking announcement buzzing through cpac. "meet the press," what the pope revealed when he met with 5,000 journalists. why another dream cruise is not so dreamy. the elusive god particle. is it a sign of god or science? we have details throughout the hour. but first to that stunning move by the pentagon to beef up its defense systems on the heels of north korea's recent nuclear threats. we have just learned a south korean official says north korea fired a pair of short-range missiles into its waters

sometime this week. nbc's kristin welker is at the white house for us. hello to you on this saturday afternoon. what prompted the move by the pentagon to take such an aggressive step against north korea? >> reporter: the pentagon believes new york has engaged in a series of provocative actions lately, alex. it has also made advances in its nuclear capabilities. north korea threatened a pre-emptive strike against the united states after the u.n. issued new sanctions against the country. it also scrapped its 1953 treaty with south korea, and in addition to that has just really ramped up its rhetoric. so there's a lot of concern on the part of the united states. defense secretary chuck hagel announcing on friday that the united states would put 14 new interceptors in alaska. that's an increase of 50% at a price tag of $1 billion. here is a little bit more of what the defense secretary had to say. take a listen. >> north korea in particular has

recently made advances in its capabilities and has engaged in a series of irresponsible and reckless provocations. specifically north korea announced last month that it conducted its third nuclear test, and last april display what had appears to be a road mobile icbm that also used its missile to put a satellite into orbit, thus demonstrating progress in its development of long-range missile technology. >> reporter: the decision to increase the amount of interceptors really marks a shift in the obama policy. back in 2010 the administration had decided not to increase its level of interceptors. it really speaks to the level of concern that the administration has right now about north korea. we should say that experts don't believe that north korea is close to developing a nuclear weapon. they believe that's still several years out before the country would actually have the capability of hitting the united states with a nuclear weapon, but still a big concern for the

administration. of course, the president had mapped out a second term agenda that included immigration reform, gun control, also taking on some environmental issues, but this will undoubtedly weigh heavily on this administration over the next several years. alex? >> absolutely. adding this to an already very full plate. thank you very much kristin w k welker. it's the final day of cpac and they've saved the best speakers for last in the eyes of some republicans. former vice presidential candidate sarah palin is due to speak any time now. with rn c chairman reince priebus and senator ted cruz scheduled for later this afternoon. joining me is nbc news political reporter casey hunt who is right there at cpac. casey with a good afternoon to you. what do we expect to hear from governor palin or do we know? i thought it was a mystery a bit earlier. >> reporter: it is a pretty big mystery. no one quite knows what she's going to get up there and say, but, you know, this is a crowd that's been really excited to hear from her in the past and folks of trickling into the back

of the ballroom here. pretty full house. everybody ready for her to make her appearance which is expected at any minute. >> what about the big speech that is took place this morning? we had michele bachmann, newt gingrich, scott walker. what were the highlights there? >> reporter: absolutely. well, in gingrich and bachmann, you have two former presidential candidates who are really very still popular within the conservative movement, and bachmann in particular really hit on some notes that conservatives were interested in hearing, mentioned benghazi at some length. scott walker has been makes noises all right about 20916 te -- 20 2016. this crowd, it's a group you would really want on injure side -- your side. people who would really work for you. >> i'm curious about the reaction to rob portman's announcement that he's in favor of gay marriage. are you hearing any rumblings

about that? >> reporter: i spent yesterday afternoon talking to attendees about that. there seemed to be an age divide. some of the older folks who are here who i talked to said the party really should stay on the traditional marriage sort of value front whereas this place is about half college students. i talked to a lot of college students, and they said, you know what? we really are more focused on individual liberty. this is maybe something that the government should stay out of totally. so the issue has really cooled off here. >> yeah. you know, every year there's that famous straw poll that will be conducted this afternoon and we'll get the results of that. i know former florida jeb bush asked to be taken out of that straw poll. he delivered a powerful speech earlier. a lot of people suggesting he may be considering a run in 2016 for the presidency, but is there anyone other than potentially jeb bush who may be up on top of this poll? any conventional wisdom on that right now? >> reporter: rand paul has really sort of come to the top of the conventional wisdom, as

you say, here at cpac and elsewhere. his father ron paul was particularly good at organizing for this straw poll and has won it in the past. rand was actually one of the best received speakers we've heard all weekend. he got louder cheers, more sustained applause than anybody anyone else we have heard from this weekend. he's definitely a favorite go g going? . >> casey hunt, thank you so much. let's go from there to italy. tomorrow the new pope will deliver his first sunday blessing to a huge crowd in st. pater's scare. today more than 5,000 journalists had an audience with pope francis. claudio, with a happy saturday to you, this was the very first time that the pope met formally with the press, and we understand that he shared the story on why he chose the name francis. well, indeed. it looks like pope francis beat the 5,000 journalists that packed the hall at their own

game. he started by saying let me tell you a story and it went on describing how his best friend was sitting next to him in the sistine chapel during the conclave when pope francis, cardinal bergoglio, got the two-thirds majority. his friend welcomed him as pope and he told him in his ear, remember not to forget the poor, and that's when bergoglio or pope francis by then decided to be called after francis of assi assisi, the chaferon of the poor and the peace. we all giggled when he said other cardinals suggested he be called either had rian like the great church reformer or even clements the xv just to get back at that clement 14th, the pope that suppressed hundreds of years ago the jesuits order, him being a jesuit himself, alex. >> it's so interesting to me because you'd think a man who

knows he might become pope would give really great thought to the name that he'll be known by for the rest of his life and really into history, but it seemed like this just naturally fit. everyone seems to love it. i also want to ask you, claudio, though about meeting with his predecessor, pope emeritus now benedict xvi. that has not happened yet. what do we know about what might happen at that meeting? >> reporter: well, alex, we're being told that the two will meet finally next saturday. now, this is going to be a historic moment, of course. nothing of that sort has happened in modern history. well, the problem is if we believe what the vatican press office has been telling us all along, they will both be wearing white. they will both address each other as his holiness. how are you going to find out who is the actual pope, current pope? you will have to look down because it looks like pope

francis is the only one who is going to be wearing the famous red shoes. fashion tips aside, of course, it's going to be very important. what we expect pope francis to do is extend his gratitude to pope benedict xvi for his work in his eight years of papacy. >> that will be quite a momentous meeting. we know you will tell us all about it afterwards. claudio, thank you so much. another setback for carnival cruiselines after a fourth ship faces problems on the high seas. the cruise ship legend now the latest and third line this week alone to experience technical difficulties. the ship was on the last leg of a seven-day cruise to the caribbean when a malfunction began affecting the sailing speed. despite the series of setbacks which began last month when a power fail you are caused passengers to be stranded at sea for four days, people are apparently still booking their trips. carnival's ceo promises a comprehensive review of their 23 ships.

sounds like a good idea. to steubenville, ohio, on an unusual saturday session. the defense began calling witnesses this morning after graphic testimony yesterday by three teenagers who were in the room when two high school football players allegedly sexual assaulted a teenage girl. it is unclear when the accuser, who is the key and final state witness, will testify. let's go to weather. we're only a few days from spring, but winter doesn't seem to be quitting in places because today north dakota is waking up to a wintry mess after their latest snowstorm. while the northeast prepares to face a little more nasty weather of its own. nbc meteorologist dylan drier is here with a little more on all this. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. when i was looking ahead through the long range forecast, there's nothing real warm showing up in the northeast. march is just going strong with the cold weather. we have temperatures only in the single digits in the dakotas right now. 22 degrees in minneapolis. 31 in chicago. this time last year it was in the 70s and 80s in the midwest.

so we're about 50 degrees cooler in that area this time around for st. patrick's day weekend than it was last year. so a big difference. we do have snow exiting the eastern great lakes moving into the new york city area, although as it really gets here, it's not going to fall and end up accumulating to the point where we would see anything besides, you know, a few snowflakes on the grassy surfaces just because temperatures will get into the upper 30s in new york city through the parade and beyond throughout this afternoon. we are looking at just about 3 to 6 inches in central and western michigan. most areas will pick up a quick 1 to 3 inches, especially right off lake erie there. but 36 for a high in chicago. 28 in minneapolis. it will be chilly in the northeast. the heat is still on in the southwest with near record temperatures and for st. patrick's day itself, nothing really changes. warm in the southwest and chilly in the northeast with highs only in the 30s and 40s. that's well below average for this time of year. >> okay. well, thank you for the heads up on that. appreciate it, dylan. west coast headlines are

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and you know that face right there. former alaska governor and vice presidential candidate sarah palin. she's speaking at cpac. let's take a listen in for a little bit. >> certainly you're not ashamed to raise it high, and don't worry, we would never dream of making you wait outside on the party bus. it is an honor to be here. we can come together, folks, for an adult conversation about the future of our country, and heaven knows we need this. so much of what passes for our national conversations these days is anything but. remember no drama obama?

if only. now it's all drama obama. we don't have leadership coming out of washington. we have reality television. except it's really bad reality tv, and the american people tuned out a long time ago. entertainment tv is a good description of what's going on in d.c. because more than ever it all feels like a put on. every event feels calculated to fool us somehow. every speech feels like a con. washington politicians, too many of both parties, have a bad habit of focusing on the process of politics instead of the purpose of politics, which is to lead and to serve. even our guys in the gop too often have a habit of reading their stage directions.

especially these days. they're being too scripted, too calculated. they talk about rebuilding the party. how about rebuilding the middle class? they talk about rebranding the gop instead of restoring the trust of the american people. now, we can't just ignore though that we just lost a big election. came in second out of two. second position on the dog sled team, it's where the view never changes and the view isn't pretty. but we need to figure out then, our job, what will we do next? as we go about that, as we talk to one another and listen to what the speakers have to say, let's be clear about one thing,

we're not here to rebrand a party. we're here to rebuild a country. [ cheers and applause ] we're not here to dedicate ourselves to new talking points coming from d.c. we're not here to put a fresh coat of rhetorical paint on our party. we're not here to abandon our principles in a contest of government giveaways. that's a game we will never, ever win. we're here to restore america, and the rest is just theatrics. the rest is sound and fury. it's just making noise, and that sums up the job president obama does today. now, he's considered a good politician, which is like saying bernie madoff was a good salesman. the difference being the president is using our money.

you know, i spend most of my time in flyover country, the heart of the heartland in america, and i have news for the permanent political class in washington. while they're busy worrying about their own political future, things are bad out here. nearly 8% unemployment rate. it doesn't begin to capture how bad things are. even the dismal rates announced of 0.1% economic growth, that doesn't tell the story of the pain that americans feel. our president fancies himself as a champion of the middle class. yet since he came on scene, even those lucky enough to have a job, they're -- >> and there you hear sarah palin. she is speaking at cpac at the conference in national harbor, maryland, in the potomac ballroom there. we'll keep a listen in our control booth to what she's saying. joining me right now anna palmer, reporter for politico,

and david knanakamura. sarah palin said they're not gathered there not to rebrand a party but to rebuild a country. for the republicans particularly, don't they have to rebrand their party to successfully rebrand the country they want to? >> i think as you're seeing a mixed message coming out of the c ncti cpac. yesterday you heard jeb bush saying too often republicans are considered the party of no, we need to say what we're for. yet you have sarah palin i think her message is interesting because she seemed to have a sort of outside washington grassroots sort of message right now, populist message. she is out of favor a little bit with some conservatives. her fox news analyst contract was not renewed. so she's i think sort of taken this tact like all of washington has the wrong message, even republicans. we don't need to rebrand this, we have the right message. we've just got to say it

stronger and be committed to it. and so, yes, of course rebuilding the country is important and i think that's a good message for republicans. on the other hand, i'm not sure that where sarah palin falls in where the republican party is headed right now. juneau, on that note, i want to ask you, anna, where does the woman who was a fire brand earlier today, michele bachmann, where does she fall in the republican party right now? she was all fired up. >> she was definitely hitting on all cylinders and had a speech that went from everything from hitting the president about benghazi to white house tours to the excess of the country. it was really a typical michele bachmann kind of fire them up, get the troops going, the kind of thing that really cpac is known for in terms of trying to get the youth movement really ready and engaged. >> you know, david, you bring up jeb bush and the sort of mixed messages there. he really urged the republican party to change direction. let's take a listen to what he said.

>> way too many people believe republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker, and the list goes on and on and on. many voters are simply unwilling to choose our candidates even they they share our core beliefs because those voters feel unloved, unwanted, and unwelcome in our party. >> so, look, david, it's pretty strong language. how do you think that message is being received at cpac and among republicans generally because, as sarah palin said, they came in second in this last election out of two. >> it's interesting. i think that jeb bush was probably speaking toself different audiences. and the way you see it depends which audience you follow. he's talking to the gop leadership on one hand, the sort of grassroots people at cpac but also to the broader folks around the country, srves wconservativ will see this, moderate folks who want to lean conservative but want to see what kind of message comes out of this. i think it's jeb bush from his

new book out about immigration, he wants to talk about ways republicans can engage in a different way. keep their core messages but engage a broader lek trat. that's a big thing a lot of republican elite are talking about. at cpac it's sort of the base of the conservative movement there and i think you have to sort of keep that in mind. marco rubio even on the first day of the conference which people are talking about immigration, he didn't even mention it because he maybe leans a little bit more progressive on that right now as part of his gang of eight talks with the senate on immigration bills. so jeb bush is really i think trying to speak to several different constituencies at once. >> anna, as we talk about the divide within the gop, you wrote an article about how the conservative club for growth is targeting moderate republicans in congress, and you report that those moderate republicans are turning to john boehner to save them. what's that all about? >> well, the club for growth is targeting a handful of members, and actually what's really interesting is these aren't necessarily members who you would consider on the really moderate end of the republican

party. they vote almost exclusively with leadership. gop leadership on things that may maybe club for growth doesn't like, but what they're trying to do is get this on the speaker's radar, we're getting targeted already. we're people who are the loyal followers that help this government run, pass the spending bills that need to be passed, and really want to make sure he and the nrcc and other people in the party leadership are going to be there in case they do get primaried. >> anna palmer, david nakamura, many thanks. detroit, meet the new boss. will it be the same as the old boss? dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. polident kills 99.99% of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains. that's why i recommend polident. [ male announcer ] cleaner, fresher, brighter every day.

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but the plane crashed killing all three people on board. a truck full of fireworks exploded in the middle of the street in central mexico. it happened as people were taking part in a religious procession. at least 11 are dead and dozens more injured. in today's strategy talk, a big announcement in a surprising turn of events. senator rob portman is declaring he is now in support of gay marriage. >> i have come to the conclusion that for me personally, i think this is something that we should allow people to do, to get married and to have the joy and the stability of marriage that i have had for over 26 years. i want all three of my kids to have it, including our son who is gay. >> joining me now is republican strast alex stewart, former press secretary for rick santorum and democratic strategist morris reed, managing director of bgr group. welcome to the both of you. i have to ask you, alice, is sarah palin still on the stage behind you there? >> she's still speaking and the crowd is certainly loving of

what she's having to say. she's a very good motivator for the crowd and they particularly liked just a few minutes ago she bent under the podium and pulled up a big gulp of soda as a reference to mayor bloomberg and his policies but that went over pretty well here. >> we will excuse the loud applause and thank you for chatting with us. i want to talk to you about senator portman w. he is no republican lightweight. what did his announcement mean for the party? >> well, that was a personal decision he made based on his personal situation and certainly people understand that, but as far as the party we will continue to support traditional marriage and as a party we will continue to focus on the issues people at cpac are concerned with which are jobs and the economy and limiting the size of government and being fiscally responsible. that's what we're hearing folks talk about here and across the country. >> morris, senator portman's announcement comes on the heels

of over 100 prominent republicans signing their name on a brief urging the supreme court to allow gay marriage. we have president obama announcing his support. are we at a watershed moment? >> i think so. i think as you look at the next anyration, the folks under 40, this is nothing that they really -- they don't really understand why the older generation doesn't get their arms around this. you know, as people personalize it, when you have a member of your family that perhaps is gay or lesbian, it's easier for you to come out as a republican, but they really are going to have to do a better job of pushing along the party. it's not as big a deal for younger americans. just as race for the other generation became less of a big deal. this will become less of a big deal for a sexual preference. >> alice, your former candidate rick santorum, he's staunchly against gay marriage.

listening to morris give his reasons for why we are at a watershed moment, do you think it's a sustainable position for a politician to be against it? >> i think it's important for any person leading the party and the party in particular to continue to support our core values, and that includes traditional marriage and that's what we're going to continue to do, support traditional marriage, but look at the bigger picture as we're doing here at cpac. the key issues folks are concerned with are jobs and the economy and reigning in the size of government. that's what we'll focus on -- >> traditions change over time. that's the thing about -- >> but core convictions don't. >> traditions -- well, i disagree with that. we have the same thing with race in this country, and it changed over time. you know, it's not about core convictions. it's about what is going on and what is acceptable by society at the time. it's unacceptable now to be anti-gay, and the republican party needs to understand that just as they were -- you know,

just as to the race issue. it's not our core convictions. it is unacceptable and we have to show more tolerance because this is the way the world is going. >> well, and alex, in terms of big tent mentality and wanting to bring people into that tent think about the cpac speech in which jeb bush said too many people see the republican party as anti-woman, anti-science, ant ant anti-gay, that might make a lot of would-be republicans feel unwelcome. what's your response to that? >> the key is this is absolutely about core convictions, and the core values of the republican party support traditional marriage. and the key takeaway moment i had from jeb bush's speech last night, which was a very good speech, he ended it with the rumors of the demise of the conservative party are greatly exaggerated and stop the harps. we don't need to continue to go down that road. he said the ideas of the liberals and democrats are not

working in this country. we need to go back to limited government and fiscal responsibility. did he that as governor in florida, balancing the budget and that's what we need to do. he focused on energy, on food and technology, on the policy that is the liberals have that are stifling those issues and we need to look at republican policies that help support some of the greatest things that we have in this country, and that will make us a better country. >> the difference is that where jeb bush was governor, democrats wanted to work with him because they saw him as a good guy and someone that could show leadership for floridians. that's the problem in washington. we have a situation where republicans don't want this president to be successful, and you look at just the job numbers that just came out last month. 230,000 jobs being created. the republicans had nothing positive to say about this. so at some point you have to put party aside and put the country forward and move the country forward. it can't be about core convictions or about the republicans or democrats. it's about america at some point and moving this country in the

right direction. >> all right. well, i'm going to let that be the last word. alice, you know, if you can get a last word in under sarah palin, you go right ahead. >> the key isn't -- sarah just got through saying it is about leadership. we need someone to bring both sides together and that includes putting a budget forward, the fact that we don't have a budget from -- we haven't had a budget from the president and the democratic party. that shows no leadership and it shows the fact they don't want to tell the american people how they want to spend their money and that's why we need, as we've all agreed, everyone come to the table, find consensus, put a budget on the table, get our fiscal house in order and that will make america prosper. >> all right. well, alice, i have to say you're listening to sarah palin, alice, and morris all at once. i appreciate that. now to more on the economy and the debacle in detroit. that city now has an emergency financial manager. bankruptcy lawyer kevin orr was named to that post. with that move the s&p raised

the credit outlook from negative to stable. detroit is the biggest american city to be placed under state control and it could become the largest municipal bankruptcy ever. joining me is darren nichols who covers city hall for "the detroit news." welcome to you. let's look at kevin orr. he calls this the olympics of restructuring. just how bad is it? >> it's prettied about. you're talking about a city that has $14.9 billion in long-term liabilities and a city that needs to begin paying back about $1.6 billion within the next five years, and so this situation in detroit hasn't, you know, occurred in a fly by night kind of situation. it's happened over time, but it's gotten to a point where the city leaders can no longer handle the situation. >> and darren, it's happened over time because of what? is it the collapse of the economy for the most part? is that what is most at fault or is it mismanagement?

>> sure. there are multitude of issues. you're talking about a city that went from 1.8 million people to less than 700,000 people now. you're talking about a city that sunday the auto collapse, the foreclosure collapse, and so there are multitude of things. you can certainly point to mismanagement, certainly with the conviction of former mayor kwame kilpatrick, you can certainly point to corruption. there are a multitude of issues, but at the heart of the matter is that the city of detroit can no longer sustain the problems that are going on here. >> yeah. do you hear anything so far about the plans that kevyn orr has? he know he says he does not plan to go into bankruptcy anytime soon, right? >> absolutely. i think one of his plans is to sit down. their company has a long-standing history of working with creditors and negotiating with them. his background is with the auto

bailout. his company has also done the jefferson county bankruptcy down there, and so he has a long-standing history of dealing with creditors and trying to move that forward. but he'll also try to score some early victories in terms of making sure that the city is safe and dealing with the public lighting issue. >> this is a guy who did represent automaker chrysler during his successful restructuring. however, there are people opposed to this. they say this takes away the voice of the people. it's circumvents the elected people, the council members, the mayor and the like. is this a serious concern? >> absolutely. it's a very serious concern. i mean, you're talking about a major city in america that is under the state's control. you're talking about a republican governor that is seemingly taking control of a overwhelmingly democratic city, and as a result it certainly is a situation where people feel as

if their voting rights are thwarted, that they put in place city officials to be able to man their city, to be able to take care of the problems, and now instead of doing some things to help out the city, the state has decided to come in and take control of the operations, and so that is a very big concern for several -- for a lot of people in detroit. >> understandably so. darren nichols, many thanks for sharing. appreciate it. a story you will have to see to believe. a real life oceans 11 casino heist down under. a trimmer? no. we got nothing. we just bought our first house, we're on a budget. we're not ready for spring. well let's get you ready. very nice. you see these various colors. we got workshops every saturday. yes, maybe a little bit over here. this spring, take on more lawn for less. not bad for our first spring. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get three bags of earthgro mulch, a special buy at just $10.

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a high stakes casino scam down under with a 21st century upgrade. the take, more than $30 million. let's go to london and get the story from nbc's anna belle roberts. what happens here? >> hi there, alex. the heist was extraordinarily

brazen and simple. hack into the security cameras take, take a peek at the tables and pass the information to a gambler. it's a scene that could have been ripped right out of the movies, whether it's "oceans 11." >> want to knock over a casino. >> or lock stock and two smoking barrels. >> got you. >> just like those films, australia's biggest casino has been hit by what appears to be a classic sting. a high rolling customer won at least $32 million after an accomplice allegedly tapped into the casino's security system. according to the casino, the helper hacked into the security cameras and followed the action on the tables. then used an earpiece to let the gambler know how to place his bets. >> the problem with casinos is they believe they're unbeatable, and we see over and over again that they're not. >> reporter: the client has been banned and one member of the casino staff has lost his job. the crowne casino is a favorite

celebrity hangout. tom cruise and katie holmes once stayed here. now it's facing a new hollywood twist but for all the wrong reasons. >> alex, the alleged culprit is apparently very wealthy and what they call a whale, a regular gambler who makes big losses and big wins. o hati has he been winning this way for long? and why would he put together a scam like this? >> i guess we'll find out. great story. in today's office politics, michael isikoff, he's been on the front lines reporting on the obama administration's controversial drone policy. i asked him about the uproar and the catalyst for the recent scrutiny. >> what we did was get ahold of the justice department white paper which laid out the legal reasoning that would justify the use of lethal force, drone

strikes, although it doesn't mention drone strikes, against american citizens. and while the administration officials had given a couple speeches on the subject, the white paper filled out some of the blanks in those speeches and gave a fuller explanation of the legal reasoning, and in some ways when i think significantly went beyond what had been stated publicly. particularly, and this is relevant very much to the discussion of the iraq war, what it called -- what it described as a, quote, broader concept of imminence. the first test as to whether or not a president can use lethal force to kill an american citizen is does that citizen, is he engaged in activity that poses an imminent threat to american citizens? that's the first test.

imminent to you and i, to most people, means something is about to happen. they've got intelligence that this guy, whoever he is, wherever he is, is doing something that's going to harm us. yet, you read the white paper and you see that imminence has a somewhat elastic definition. it doesn't mean in their legal reasoning that they've got active intelligence about an ongoing plot. it may mean only that they've got -- had intelligence of recent activities suggesting the individual was a plotter and so, therefore, it can be assumed that that person poses an imminent threat. that raises a whole host of questions. what do we mean by recent? what do we mean by activities and taking a step back further, remember, this is all based on

secret intelligence. this is all based on what the intelligence community is telling people. and if we learned anything from the iraq wmd debacle, it is that we can't always trust secret intelligence, and when you're making decisions, life or death decisions, there's a reason to have even more scrutiny. >> so has the administration sufficiently clarified its position on drones now? >> well, you know, look, they have shared the memos on this subject on the killing of american citizens. >> uh-huh. >> with the intelligence committees. the problem with that is they're classified. the intelligence committee members can look at them in a classified skiff. they can't take in staff. they can't write down -- they

can't talk about it after they've seen it. so in some ways the response to our story, which is to make these available to the intelligence committees, may actually have diminished the public debate on this issue because now the people that have seen the memos can't talk about them. >> on your weekends, do you ever just turn off, or is this kind of stuff always percolating in your mind. >> it's hard. >> really? >> it's hard to turn off. i try. i mean i will leave the blackberry home sometimes when i take my son to the playground. >> but if your son is happily playing by himself are you sort of starting to drift off and think about some investigation -- >> sure, sure. i mean -- but i mean am i all that different than anybody else

in washington in that regard? people get caught up in their jobs and it consumes more of their lives than they would like it to. >> what you didn't see there was shortly after that, michael had two phones to his ears at one time. unbelievable. tomorrow at this time michael and i have an in-depth discussion about the runup to the iraq war and the twisting of truths to justify invading iraq in the wake of 9/11. time for today's list of number ones. first up with the price of gasoline averaging about $3.70 a gallon across the country, some folks are enjoying the lowsest pump prices in the land. salt lake city is playing the least, $3.31. og again, utah, and bill ths, tth, right hand at $3.32. followed by provo utah and green vim, south carolina. a new census report finds the dallas metro area gaining the most in population. it increased almost 132,000 people between july of 2011 and 2012. daniel day-lewis' oscar winning performance may have

helped steven steel bepielberg to second. but oprah winfrey tops the most influential list for a second straight year. and finally the silver dollar city amusement park in branson has opened the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world. all you riders are subjected to a record drop of 162 feet. i'm so down with that. that is your ups and downs here on "weekends with alex witt." c. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems,

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could we be one step closer to solving the mystery behind how the universe was created? maybe. this week a group of sis fi physicists announced it thinks it created the subatomic particle responsible for creating the universe. it's become known as the god particle since it was predicted nearly 50 years ago. with me to talk about it is t asmth tarik mallik.

what does this mean, this discovery. >> basically physicists have a model of the universe, how they think everything around us works. there was a piece missing, the higgs boson particle. >> this is the god particle. >> they saw signs of it last year but they weren't sure. what we learned this week is, yeah, they have seen it, it exists. >> all right. so i talk about this explaining in part perhaps how the universe was created, but doesn't this also give some idea of how and when the universe would end? >> yeah. that's another theory that we just learned about this month, too. the higgs boson particle is what they think gives everything in the universe the mass, you, me, the desk, the sun. what they think is that particle and that mass relationship in 10 billion years or so, that the universe could be in for a catastrophic event, that we might not be that stable of a place after all.

>> 10 billion years from now. >> yeah. we've got some time. >> check that off the libs of things to worry about. i want to ask you about theses a trou asteroids. one of them is the size of a city block. the disturbing thing is they do not know about these until after they have come through and passed near the earth. i mean, what kind of a problem is this? >> you know, we've heard nasa scientists call our solar system a cosmic shooting gallery. there are millions of asteroids out there and many of them pass near earth all the time. they don't hit us obviously, but there are more people looking now, so we're finding these ones that are coming down or swinging by all the time. we saw the asteroid that exploded over russia. >> sure. >> last month, too. so just having more people looking for them, we can spot them hopefully with more notice than what we saw last weekend with so many at the same time. >> all right. always good to see you. come back and bring us more of this interesting stuff. appreciate it. closer to justice.

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look who is talking. sarah palin speaks to cpac but does she really matter nowadays? bracing for the worst. america beefs up missile defense in face of north korea's worysome belligerence. payback time nears. former hostages demand iran pay up for their 444 days of agony. ♪ and rocky row house, a movie making treasure goes on the market. hello and welcome to "weekends with al leex witt." form alaska governor sarah palin just left the stage at cpac where she riled up the crowd with a speech that tackled everything from the new york city soda ban to gun control. >> checks, yeah, i guess to

learn more about a person's thinking and associations and intentions. more background checks. dandy idea, mr. president. should have started with yours. >> joining me now nbc political reporter casey hunt. and, casey, with another welcome, the reaction in the room, we heard a little bit of it right there. pretty boisterous. >> reporter: absolutely. they really love her here. sarah palin really speaks to this crowd. she's got a lot of grassroots support from them. and she really knows how to put on a show and that matters a lot in politics. >> it sure does. what about the highlights of the content? what did you deem as being interesting from that? >> reporter: her speech was really anti-establishment. more so than many other speeches. she took a shot at karl rove when she said the architect should head back to texas. she also in the middle of her speech burst out with a big gulp soda that she very dramatically took a drink of and declared,

shoots, it's just pop. obviously a dig at mayor bloomberg's soda ban that was recently overturned by a court. >> all right. how about her speech, put that up against the rest of the speakers we heard from so far. how does it gibe up with that? >> reporter: without question she got one of the best rebe actions from the crowd. they paid attention to really every word. they are more engaged with her than they have been with a lot of other folks. there were some other highlig s highlights. rand paul got a lot of reaction. >> compare sarah palin to rand paul. last hour as sarah palin was just about heading to the stage, you said that rand paul had had the biggest applause and biggest support. did sarah palin measure up to him in your esteem? >> reporter: you know, i was in the room for both of those speeches and i think without question both of them got excellent reactions, but people were just really excited about palin. >> okay. casey hunt, there at cpac. thank you. with me is lauren fox and

andy croll. lauren, a very aggressive sarah palin. let's take a listen to this as she went after president obama. >> refusing to pass a budget is government refusing to declare what it intends to do with the people's money. barack obama promised the most transparent administration ever. barack obama -- >> you know, pretty inflammatory rhetoric there. do people there realize that that kind of message doesn't really resonate beyond that room? >> i don't think so. i have spent the last two days at cpac and people are really excited. they want to get informed about the republican party, and they want it to remain their party, the grand old party it's always been. i don't think they recognize that that rhetoric is a little bit more inflammatory than what you would hear in meetings when republicans are kind of talking about how to win elections and how to reach out to those

independent voters, people who are on the fence. this is the base. and they love that stuff. but like you said, it doesn't necessarily resonate outside the beltway. >> yeah. so andy, overall, do you think that folks there in the room and those people that are making somewhat inflammatory comments from the stage, are they deluded? are they harming the gop, that plat fortunately, that party, overall? >> well, they're not facing the political reality, without a doubt. the party has to make real substantive changes about its message, about its outreach, but the policies it stands for, and clearly what we're seeing here at cpac whether it's sarah palin, whether it's in michele bachmann, whether it's in a whole host of other speakers is that they're not really ready to make those tough choices or make those tough kinds of statements. they're more than happen to just keep the people in this room, in this hotel, the base, happy. >> and lauren, here is what sarah palin said about the republican brand. >> as we talk to one another and listen to what the speakers have

to say, let's be clear about one thing. we're not here to rebrand the party. we're here to rebuild a country. >> so not there to rebuild the brand. that might make a good line at cpac but does it work as a political strategy? >> you know, i think strategists at cpac are kind of looking over the base and trying to figure out, you know, what is a popular message that resonates with them that also can resonate outside of the beltway and, you know, i think they're going to find things like the budget are a little bit easier sells than maybe immigration reform, gun control, or gay marriage, other issue that is kind of come up a lot as issues that maybe the gop needs to redefine themselves as. so they're going to have to find those issues that bridge the gap between the two republican parties that we're seeing right now. >> let's take a look now at another high-profile republican. this morning paul ryan gave the republican weekly address and pushed his budget proposal explaining why he is so focused on balancing the budget.

>> the budget is a means to an end. we are not balancing the budget as an accounting exercise. we're not trying to simply make numbers add up. we're trying to improve people's lives. >> so, andy, if paul ryan connecting a balanced budget to improving people's lives, do you think the gop senses it needs to do a better job of explaining why balancing the budget should matter to people? >> paul ryan obviously understand that point. he realizes as we just heard that connecting the budget, this is an issue that maybe the republican party can use to reach out to hispanic voters, to reach out to women voters, to reach out to those blocs that the party has had so much trouble with. the problem is the product paul ryan is offering is absolutely no different from the product that has been so unpopular in the past. so maybe they can put new wrapping on the report or a new message behind it. the nuts and bolts of it are really the same old thing. >> andy and lauren, thank you so much. and to stay up on the latest

political headlines and the analysis from the nbc political unit, we invite you to visit firstread -- or msnbcnews.com. south korea says north korea fired a pair of short-range missiles into its waters this week. this comes on the heels of the defense secretary announcing yesterday the pentagon will beef up its defense systems after north korea's recent nuclear threats. with me now on the set, gordon chang, author of "nuclear sh showdo showdown, north korea takes on the world." this approach by the united states. what do you expect the reaction to be from north korea? >> i think north korea certainly is going to continue doing what it's doing, improving its long-range ballistic missiles, putting its missiles on mobile launchers, and detonating more nuclear devices. this is what north korea does. they want these weapons. they want to sell them to iran, and so i don't think we're going to see very much of a change. >> here is what is a little

disturbing. we have a couple years before all of these 14 extra -- the missile defense would be put into place. how close are we to actually having -- or having north korea with the capability of reaching our shores? >> well, they can reach our shores now, alaska, hawaii, maybe the upper reaches of the west coast. i don't think so but some people say. with a warhead that's conventional only. but within five years and probably three, the north koreans will be able to airmail a nuke to almost any port in the united states. >> is north korea capable of doing this on its own or does it have to have help doing this? >> we know it's gotten some help. april 15th last year, the big military parade in pyongyang, we saw a new missile on mobile launchers. china sold them the mobile launchers. they're hard to find. that's why the administration changed their stance on missile defense. we can't find these mobile missile launchers.

china's sale has substantially increased north korea's ability to wage nuclear war. >> wait a minute. when you said we had maybe three years until a nuclear missile could reach our shores, is that because of china giving them the missile launchers? was that a missing component? >> that was the longest range missile which we don't think china has actually helped them on, at least recently. but what we're worried about are the intermediate range missiles that china has certainly helped them on and we have a stake in this because we have troops in south korea, okinawa in japan, and guam which are within range of north korea's mobile missiles. >> okay. so would you say that north korea either has moved to or maintained its position of number one concern in this arena? we often talk about iran. >> iran has technologies, but really because north korea has sold them. so if we can deal with north korea and solve the north korean problem, that starves the iranians of all of this technology for their missiles,

which are essentially north korean missiles rebranded, repainted. and it's also true with their uranium enrichment technology which comes, some of it, from north korea. >> you're saying that iran really can't be successful at developing nuclear missiles and it's programs without north korea. does that then at all give credence to iran's claims that they developed nuclear power for energy? >> well, the iranians aren't doing that because we've been catching them in all sorts of experiments that are only useful for a weapons program. north korea and iran have had this joint program on missiles and nukes for more than a decade and we've seen these transfers of technology. they're only useful for military purposes. and so clearly iran is not going for a civilian program. if they wanted a civilian program, they would have been doing many other different things and they'd be more willing to talk to the international community about what they're doing, not trying to hide their facilities. >> here is a bottom line question, gordon.

do you think north korea would actually launch a nuclear attack against the united states? i mean -- >> no, no. and the reason they wouldn't do it is because we would know where it came from and we would retaliate immediately. the thing that people in washington are concerned about is not an airmailed nuke, but really a weapon that has been smuggled across the mexican border, brought in and assembled. that you know you can't necessarily trace who did it because although we know north korea's plutonium isotopes, we don't know their uranium isotopes and we're not going to retaliate unless we are 100% sure. because retaliation as ronald reagan said is mass murder and the united states doesn't want to do that unless we're sure who the culprit is. >> gordon chang, a very sobering conversation. thank you for being here, as always. >> thank you, alex. let's go to steubenville, ohio, and the rape trial capturing this nation's attention. testimony has resume as defense called its first witnesses out this morning. they were taken out of order though. among the witnesses are the friends of the alleged victim, a teenage girl claiming she was

sexual assaulted by two high school football players. nbc's ron allen is in steubenville, ohio, with the latest in this trial. so it's a saturday. it's a busy day there. let's get to the latest and when the accuser might take the stand, ron. >> reporter: very soon is the short answer. we expect that to happen today. you're right, some of the cases preceded out of the order because it's a weekend, because it's a visiting judge here who was called in to preside over this case to eliminate any appearance of conflict of interest. there's been some concern that there was a cover-up by local officials here and that more young people should be prosecuted for at the very least failing to report an alleged crime that happened that night. so that's why this is a very unusual trial. it's also a juvenile proceeding which is why there's a judge and no jury. but the bottom line is that during the past few days the prosecutors have presented very strong eyewitness testimony that this young girl was attacked on a number of occasions by these two defendants in the backseat of a car and on the floor of a basement. now, we're talking about a night of partying that involved dozens

of young people drinking lots of alcohol, going from place to place, no adult supervision. the entire evening has cast a very dark and unfortunate shadow on this town and on this community. while these defendants are on trial, there are a lot of other people, young people, who participated that night in various things that they probably are not very proud of. also, prosecutors have presented literally 10 to thousands of text messages going back and forth between the participants at the parties. a lot of it laced with profanity. a lot of it showing that what was happening this night didn't strike many of these kidses a being anything that was searitey serious which is a sad commentary on what happened. we expect to hear from the accuser at some point this afternoon. alex? >> let's face it, it's all pretty darn disturbing. thank you very much, ron allen. up next, congress gets to work on writing a devastating

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this week a new bill that could right a 33-year-old wrong. if passed, this legislation that would finally compensate the 52 americans who were held hostage by iran in 1979. the stipulations of the deal that finally freed the hostages forbid them from suing their captors, but the senate bill gets around that by using funds collected from violations of the u.s. sanctions on iran. rocky was a young marine corps sergeant standing guard at the american embassy when the gates were overrun and he was taken hostage. rocky, i'm so glad to speak with you. before we get to this bill, i want to have you walk the viewers through your 444 days in captivity. bottom line, how did you survive that? >> alex, we would be here all day if i was to go back to 44

d44 days but that first day of november 4th of 1979 when we were told to give ourself up, we had secured the embassy waiting for the host government. they another showed up. we were told to give ourself up. for the next 444 days each minute, each day, each week, each month, each year we were there, there was a gun pointed at us. from the mock firing squads to the russian roulette to the movement of the country of iran, blindfolded, handcuffed where you had to -- if you had to go to the restroom, you had to do it on yourself. these are things that you just -- you never forget. >> yeah. >> alex, and it's one of these things that they've never been held accountable, and there are ten of our fellow hostages that have gone to their grave without ever seeing any type of, you know, outcome -- >> compensation or anything. >> absolutely.

>> rocky, i read "the new york times" excerpts, and it is phenomenal what you went through. the back and forth, the ping-ponging between one day being stripped naked and hearing a gun cock and you thought that was it, and a couple days later they would show you videos. that was part of this mental game and cruelty they did on you guys. it's really extraordinary. holding your mail, making you feel as if your family didn't love you anymore and putting out misinformation. it was fascinating to read all this, but i do want to talk about what you're trying to do in terms of getting your due compensation. the reception in terms of the government for getting something for you up until now has been what? >> it's really been -- you hear things that are going to possibly happen and then -- it's like being held hostage again. we've been working on this for years, alex, and just hearing about the house and the senate which we're very excited about

them getting behind it, possibly using these companies that have been negotiating and selling items to iran, there have been, like you said, sanctions to iran for over 34 years, and there have been companies within the u.s. that hang our american flag and they're doing business with this country. so as the american government, we've been trying to hold sanctions against them, sanctions haven't been working because they've been getting around them. so now we've got the house and the senate basically identifying these companies and grabbed their assets and hopefully compensation will come through but, again, i will believe it once i see it. >> how much money are you looking for and how would you even put a price on those 444 days? >> you know, i don't know what the house and the senate bill is stating, but, you know, there is a template that the government uses in regards to identifying assets and compensation, but,

again, like i said, alex, i would hope that you at msnbc help us and follow this and i will have another interview with you if it ever happens. but like i said, like being held hostage, we were told for 444 days, imagine you being held and you're raped of your freedom and you're told each week, oh, things are looking very good. that's 52 weeks that you're sitting there and you're hoping and you're praying. i mean, and trust me, the sounds and the smells and everything that you go through, there are things that you never forget those. and i'm telling you and the viewers a story, but only the other hostages that were there really understand, and you don't ever -- you don't ever lose that and you never -- even a compensation is never going to take away everything that happened to you. >> yeah. you know, rocky, really quickly, the movie "ar go" has placed a focus on that time.

granted it was behind the hostages that got away, but are you glad right now that this is out there? do you think this has helped your cause? >> american people forget about history and, you know, even my children, i have spoken to their classes and so, yes, the movie that ben and george and john and all the folks put together, a fantastic movie, tells a story about those six people. but i'm telling you there are 52 other stories, really now only 40 because some of the hostages have died, about what happened to them for 444 days, and plus the families, alex. imagine you being married to one of the service officers. how do you get up for 44 days with your children and expect to live when you don't know what's going to happen to your loved one in a foreign country. >> that is agony personified. >> absolutely. >> well, rocky sickmann, thank you so much. and i hope you can come back really soon and talk about the compensation that you have

received. so promise you will come back when it happens. >> trust me, i will believe it -- once i hear of it, i will then believe it and i will be back if it happens. >> excellent. thank you so much. >> thank you. a new chapter for a simple home from cinematic history just ahead. do we have a mower? no. a trimmer? no. we got nothing. we just bought our first house, we're on a budget. we're not ready for spring. well let's get you ready. very nice. you see these various colors. we got workshops every saturday. yes, maybe a little bit over here. this spring, take on more lawn for less. not bad for our first spring. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get three bags of earthgro mulch, a special buy at just $10. earning loads of points. we'll leave that there. you got a weather balloon, with points? yes i did.

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welcome back to weekends with alex witt. here are the fast five headlines. a tour bus carrying a college woman's lacrosse team has gone off the pennsylvania turnpike. it cracked into a tree killing the driver and one passenger and sending 14 others to the hospital. the lacrosse team was from seaton hill university near pittsburgh. american astronaut kevin thorn and two russian cosmonauts returned to earth this morning after a 144 day stay in the international space station. in florida a double engine failure is the suspected cause in the crash of a twin engine plane that went down in a ft. lauderdale airport parking lot. all three people on board were killed. a wildfire near fort collins, colorado, has burned about 1,000 acres so far. it's only 5% contained and authorities have issued evacuation orders as that fire threatens at least another 50 homes. greyhound has given refunds and vouchers to passengers who were on board a bus, get ready

for this, infested with cockroaches. when that new york bound passenger saw the insects, took these pictures, well, the bus driver pulled off the road and waited for a replacement bus. i'm betting everyone got off that bus. what do you think? let's go to italy now. tomorrow the new pope will deliver his first under blessing to a huge crowd expected in st. peter's square and a mass to have him officially installed as pope is scheduled for tuesday. claudio is joining us from vatican city. we have a lot of dignitaries including vice president joe biden who are coming for the inves investiture on tuesday. tell us what to expect. >> reporter: that mass on tuesday is expected to be one of the biggest events the vatican and rome indeed has seen in many years. well, the vatican press office told us at least 1 million people are expected to gather here in st. peter's square and the surrounding areas to witness

the historic event. even though it must be said that pope francis has told the faithful in argentina if they don't have the money or if it's too expensive to travel to rome, they should just give something to charity instead. i'm not sure of who of those that can afford a ticket to come here will follow that example because it's very unlikely to see another argentinean pope in the distance future. there's another first. you mentioned the dignitaries. among those it's important to point out that the orthodox patriarch bartholomew i has been invited and he will come here. it's the first time an orthodox patriarch will attend. it's the first time it happened since the big schism in 1504. >> we went on the air emergency roomily this morning at 6:00 a.m. our time locally because we covered the pope speaking pretty directly to 5,000 members of the press who covered the conclave.

talk about that statement that he made and the nature of it. it seemed so very different than what we would have expected from his predecessor, benedict xvi. >> reporter: well, of course. he was in good humor. he was very joyful and very well-spirited in a way. he was -- we were all giggling, the 5,000 journalists that told the story when he was in the sistine chapel and got the two-thirds majority, he was sitting next to his best friend, the archbishop emeritus of sao paulo who was supporting him when things he said were getting dangerous. when he got that majority vote, his friend went to his ear and said don't forget the poor. that's why, he said, he chose the name francis after francis of assisi, of course, the champion of the poor and of peace. but we were giggling also because he was joke being what other cardinals suggested he will use as a name for the pope.

he said that some said you should be called hadrian like the pope who was also known as the big church reformer or clement 15 rxv just to get back clement xiv who suppressed the jesuit order. he's a jesuit as well. >> i think he made a good choice in francis. thank you very much, claudio. we'll see you again. the united nations has agreed on major new blueprint to combat violence against women and girls. it's all part of the u.n.'s commission on the status of women meeting which culminated last night after two weeks of contentious debate. joining me now is dr. dara richson herron, the ceo of the ywca and with a welcome to you, doctor, i'm glad to have you here. >> i'm delighted to be here. >> this initiative, what does it do to help women and girls throughout the world? >> now that everyone is focused on eliminating violence in all forms against women and girls across the country, we hope there will be a concerted effort to really take steps to eliminate the violence.

you know, the paper is good. but it's really the implementation that's going to be critical, but now we actually have been agreement to move forward with this initiative. >> and that's the point that i think is so interesting because having agreement, having this con shen sus, that wasn't necessarily guaranteed from the outside. you and i can look at this and say lodgelogical of course, but you have a lot of different cultures involved here which ultimately though signed on giving their governments license now to do what? try to protect women? help them out? >> well, to protect women from sexual violence, to protect women from gender-based violence and that's the decision that's been made. countries have to put a concerted effort to stop the violence against women. i was recently at the commission on the status of women and we had a delegation of 110 women, about half of them were young women. when they spoke of the unspeakable violence that many of them face, it was just unbelieverable. so that's why we at the ywca know it's important for the u.s.

and other countries to take a strong stand. as you know, we're celebrating the passage and reauthorization of the violence against women act. we were really at the forefront of that initiative. >> also, you need the monies. that helps fund everything that you do. >> it does. the ywca is one of the largest providers of domestic violence services in the united states. we get a great deal of our funding from the violence against women act. funding for our crisis intervention centers, housing. these women need housing. where do they have to go if they leave an unsafe environment? we want to make sure that women have these kinds of services and supports and that they can leave these unsafe homes. >> you know, i don't know that everybody is aware that the ywca has these sorts of programs that are aimed at helping women who are victims of domestic violence. i mean, the appalling rate, i believe it's four or five per day in this country are killed as a result of domestic violence. you think about the ywca and you think of moms taking their kids there for playtime or swimming lessons and actually it's a pretty weighty program that you

have. >> we really are the largest, one of the largest and oldest multicurl institution that is have been around in the fight against eliminating racism and empowering women. we are the largest provider of domestic violence services. we have a wealth of services we provide. most people think we just have swimming pools and fitness centers. that's not true. we have 230 locations throughout the united states where we provide the range and gamut of services. it could be early childhood care -- >> shelters for women who have violent husbands or partners. >> shelters for women, transitional housing for women who are facing job loss or women who are in the military who come back and they don't have a place to stay. so we run the gamut of services for women throughout their life cycle and we have been doing it for over 150 years and we're going to do it for many more years to come. >> bully for you and i think also the fact you talk about ending racism. i did get a notice about the news, you have eva longoria who will make a splash at your annual event.

>> we have an annual conference june 5th to june 8th in washington, d.c. and she will receive an award. we're excited she's joining us. >> thank you for the work you do. >> thank you for highlighting our work. >> glad to have you. glad you're doing what you're doing. are the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? three wise people are going to try to answer that age-old question. we have the big three coming up next. you know, from our 4,000 television commercials. yep, there i am with flo. hoo-hoo! watch it! [chuckles] anyhoo, 3 million people switched to me last year, saving an average of $475. [sigh] it feels good to help people save... with great discounts like safe driver, multicar, and multipolicy. so call me today. you'll be glad you did. cannonbox! [splash!] when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost.. when what you just bought,

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and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. with google now, it automatically knows when you need to leave for the airport, how much traffic there is, and has your boarding pass ready. the droid razr maxx hd by motorola. droid-smart. droid-powerful. it is time for the big three, those three wise men and today's topics. band-aid, wall street versus main street and best weeks, worst weeks. with me is' lease, susan del percio, and msnbc contributor jimmy williams. i'm glad to have all three of you here. elise, sarah palin having rallied the faith of the at the gathering of the conservatives in washington, she went right after president obama. let's take a listen.

>> yes, she did. >> and background checks i guess to learn more about a person's thinking and associations and intentions. more background checks. dandy idea, mr. president. should have started with yours. >> so that may work with the right but there are a lot of reasons who said that the gop brand needs to be improved. do you think this kind of rhetoric is going to help on that front? >> well, i think you can always count on sarah palin for some good red meat and that's what we're seeing at cpac. i think the thing to remember about this gathering is that there are all kinds of colorful characters all the time. and some of the panels, some of the speeches are going to be more substantive than the others, but in terms of the rebranding of the gop, that isn't with wha this event is about. this is about the faithful reminding themselves about what motivates them. >> so, susan, look, let's talk about what sarah palin was saying. she goes, look, the brand isn't

what we are trying to revamp. we're trying to take care of the country is basically what she said, but how can you do that without getting the brand right and getting more people into the tent and doing your thing that way? >> you can't. she was simply putting on a show in my opinion, and she does it very well. but the fact -- >> she is a performer, isn't she? she's actually a great performer. >> since 2008 she was on fox for a while, she was a commentator, she no longer has that. she's done reality tv, which is all very good. as a matter of fact, she even made a crack about reality tv. but the point is that she's not where the party needs to go. i think,y, she should have listened more closely to jeb bush yesterday talking about that the party needs to stand for things and not just be against things, and we don't need just to take shots against our opposition. but we need to come up with ideas and we do need to be much more inclusive. >> do you think people have moved past the sarah palin brand? does she at all hurt the gop? >> i don't think so she really

that relevant with the gop. yes, she's in cpac and she had her moment in the sun and with all the hype of what a big speech she was going to give, it was simply red meat. >> she gets the applause and the headlines, jimmy, beyond that do you think she has any political relevance at all? >> no. >> no, not at all. >> not a single bit. alicia said she throws out the red meat. but the problem is the red meat has gone bad. it's rancid. it's no longer something u8d even buy at the grocery store. her approval ratings are in the tank. no one cares about her. fox doesn't even care about her. how pathetic can it possibly get in your life? here is my problem with sarah palin. she said during this speech that the republican establishment is scripted. sarah palin called her own party people scripted. that's the greatest of all the most ironic things that i have heard in my 46 years of life. >> what do you mean by that? >> that's exactly my point. >> you guys are good. >> she's irrelevant to the

process. >> our next topic, wall street soaring. the dow went up for the tenth straight day on thursday before dipping a little bit on friday. question to you, jimmy, do you think the rest of the country is feeling it? >> this gets into my winners and losers. i'm glad you have done this. here is what i think. i think that the economy is coming back. i think it's coming back tepidly and slowly but as larry kudlow and i talked about last night, we agree, we have hope, we have optimism. house something doing well in certain parts of the country. i mean, escalation clauses of major urban areas, d.c., new york, et cetera, et cetera, san francisco. the question is what's happening in the middle of the country in the pockets where it was hit hardest and worst and quickest? and so american businesses are doing fabulously. stock market never been higher. all across the board we are doctor every indicator is showing that we are doing better. the question is what about the workers? >> well, yeah. that's a big question. we have the unemployment numbers that were up. a couple hundred and change this last month. do you think it's being felt as a positive uptick turnaround beyond wall street? >> it could be.

it's an unusual place, believe it or not. it's in city and state governments because with a strong stock market, the pension process, the pension funds are much more stronger and the cities and states have to contribute a lot less. so they have more money to maybe hire back some of the people they've had to lay off in that time. because that's where most of the jobs were lost was in the public sector. >> elise, do you think lawmakers in d.c. are worried that the wall street gains are not translating quickly enough into jobs or do -- >> yes. >> but do you think they see at least an upward mobility but it's just the timing isn't fast enough? >> on capitol hill everything is always a fight as we know, and so there are two perspectives on this. republicans will say that the obama administration is handing out too many regulations. it's on business' throat. there's nothing anybody can do to create jobs. the democrats say republicans are shuffling us between crises all the time so the economy really can't recover when we're dealing with things like the sequester, a possible government shutdown. so i'm not an economist.

it's hard for me to evaluate those two sides but that certainly is what we're hearing. >> okay. elise and jimmy and susan, you sit tight. we have the big three's must reads coming up. i will also speak to the future of the republican party next. no they don't. hey son. have fun tonight. ♪ ♪ back against the wall ♪ ain't nothin to me ♪ ain't nothin to me [ crowd murmurs ] hey! ♪ [ howls ] ♪ [ howls ] do we hano.a mower? a trimmer? no. we got nothing. we just bought our first house, we're on a budget. we're not ready for spring. well let's get you ready. very nice. you see these various colors. we got workshops every saturday. yes, maybe a little bit over here. this spring, take on more lawn for less.

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well, today is the last day of cpac and republican state representative from oklahoma spoke just moments ago at that big conservative gathering in washington known as cpac, he joins us now. hello to you. thanks for coming on the show in the wake of your speech there tell me what you hope to get across to the crowd. do you think you did it? >> hi, alex. i tell you, i have just been completely re-energized about the conservative movement across the country and i think it was one thing we all agree is that we cannot continue to wait for washington, d.c. to lead, whether it is in the areas of health care, taxes or spending, you name it washington, d.c.'s proven it's either incapable or unwilling to make the necessary changes that are required for us to have reform. if there's going to be reform, it's going to happen in the halls of state governments around the country. >> how about any reform needed

within the republican party? we heard sarah palin say that she didn't think that the branding of the party needed to be tackled that there were other issues. what do you think? >> i think we need to gout and we got to tell our message, think we got to have a right message and we need the right message and i think what cpac is all about is coming together with conservatives all across the state and making sure we are united. what i have heard throughout the thing, the halls of the gathering is we are and i think we are ready to go in the next election cycle. >> so, here's something interesting, the organize of cpac, al dar dean nas, here is what he said about how republicans can broaden their appeal. "you grow your tent by convincing others, persuading others that yours is the way you and you build your tent by reaching out to the new demographics of america into the youred down version of who we ought to be." so when you look at that, is what he is saying, let's push the same agenda, stick with the same principles and just change

the messaging, that that's all it's gonna take? >> i think you are talking about demographic, you got to be attuned to growing. where we really missed it last cycle and we can really start making some gains is with young people. the way we communicate that message simple. we are the people, the 40 -- those many and women like myself who are under 40 years old, we are going to pay for all that's happening around the country, so that's the way we can go reunite the party and bring the country together by telling the message, we believe in less government, lower taxes and also believe in core government service, that's broad message, it's appealing to everybody and we got to gout and tell it. >> how about let's take a listen to donald trump who spoke a little earlier and here's what he said about immigration. >> when it comes to immigration, you know that the 11 million illegals, even if given the right to vote, you know, you're going to have to do what's right, but the fact is, 11 million people will be voting are democratic.

you could say that to a certain extent, the odds aren't looking so great right now for republicans that you're on a suicide mission. you're just not gonna get those votes. >> so, that's certainly one of the big names being invited to cpac just popping off on illegal immigration. do you worry that sends the wrong signal if you're trying to attract some new voters? >> well, first of all, i don't pay a whole lot of attention to what donald trump has to say about winning elections. if he was very good at it he would have won one. but i will tell you that the message of the conservative movement, of the conservative party, i think it is appealing to a lot of people and i think particularly to minority groups. i didn't have to learn my values at some party like cpac. i learned the val news my church, i learned them in the predominantly african-american church, bethlehem baptist church in lawton, america, that's where i learned conservative princi e principles. they are appealing, they makeson sense and the way we will turn this country around. we need the right message but also have to have the right

messenger. >> i have to tell you tw, you got some bipartisan support here in the studio, you had both jimmy and susan laughing at your assessment there of done trald tru -- donald trump. that's start. >> we all know there are people that hate us but only politicians get an accurate count. >> that's a good one, too. thank you, tw, very much for joining us. i'm glad your honor your speech went well. appreciate it and look forward to seeing you again here on the show. >> thank you for the honor. >> you're welcome. react to what was saying, not the donald trump being someone you would necessarily listen to but stuff donald trump was saying and the messages that continually come out by the headliners at a place like cpac. the relevance of that, susan, is? >> you have different messages coming out. you also have different constituencies. about half of cpac is a very young group who care mostly about what's going on economically. then when you throw in things like a gay marriage issue, the older members have a problem with t much like the republican

party right now as it's going through some pro-grohhing pains is divided so are groups like cpac it comes to able. >> what do you think, quick, jimmy, regard to the unifying of the republican party, you think it's possible any time soon or you think that divide is pretty deep? >> it is like when you hit rock bottom, you can only go up. i don't know that the republican party has hit rock bottom yet. i think the republican party has more of these "growing pains" that you alluded to to go through. let's be clear, you cannot, in a society where white people, aging white people are going to be gone in 10 to 20 years, you cannot say to african-americans, to women under 30, to latinos to gay people, et cetera, et cetera, you cannot say to them, we like you, we have a big tent, we want your vote, but we don't want you to get married and we don't think you should be legal, as donald trump said you can illegal. we think that your body is not yours, et cetera, et cetera. it's fine to do the message, but unless you change your policies it will not matter in the end. >> hey, listen it is not fair i haven't brought elise into the

conversation, quickly, do you have a best and worst, a must read? >> i have a winery and loser for me is rand paul, the win, who is take up his father's mantel and doing very well generating buzz between his filibuster around cparks the lose certificate tsa chief, trying to sell everybody on this new policy that you can bring a penknife on an airplane but not necessarily your water bottle. >> elise, you make a lot of sense. next time, come join us in studio, these guys talk too much or maybe it is me. that is a wrap of "weekends with alex witt." i'm going to see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern. but up next, craig melvin. have a great day. wait, don't go! [ male announcer ] choose your side at oreo.com. some people will do anything to help eliminate litter box odor. ♪